On September 15, Miss New York Nina Davuluri became the first Indian-American to win the title of Miss America. Her crowning caused a newsworthy backlash on Twitter, which overshadowed the story of who she is.

In an interview with Vogue, Nina describes what it's like being an Indian growing up in America.

On being a doctor

"Growing up in a South Asian family, there was definitely pressure to pursue this field; my father and sister are both doctors, but I took my time deciding. I graduated with a degree in brain behaviour and cognitive science from the University of Michigan and was interested in a PhD in psychology. I think the turning point to pursue medical school came to me when I was visiting an orphanage in Vijayawada with my grandfather. We were handing out food to children with mental or physical disabilities and a four-year-old girl offered me back the roll of bread I had given her. I was touched — she was willing to give up the only thing she had. This made me realise how fortunate I was, and how I could give back."

On food

"Like a true South Indian, I crave idli, sambhar, dosa for breakfast. Gulab jamun and ras malaai for dessert, or Cadbury's Dairy Milk. In New York, I love cream cheese bagels from Pascale Bakehouse in Syracuse. I lost 25 kg over two years to reach my target weight with the help of eating healthy, Bikram yoga, spinning, boot camp and cross fit. I also swear by Quest protein bars."

On dance

"I've trained in Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi during my annual trips to Vijayawada and participated in cultural dance programmes of raas and bhangra in college. For the Miss America talent round, I danced to 'Dhoom Tana' because Bollywood fusion is such a popular part of American culture now. I flew to Los Angeles to have Nakul Dev Mahajan from the TV show So You Think You Can Dance choreograph it for me."

On movies

"I know every girl always says Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but it's my favourite Bollywood film. Otherwise I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, I love sci-fi and am obsessive with Star Wars and Star Trek –– my celeb crush is Spock. Growing up I would watch Beauty And The Beast on repeat; I even dressed up as Belle in a yellow dress for Halloween five years in a row. It was actually the inspiration behind the evening gown I got designed for the Miss America contest, the one I won in."

On being an Indian-American

"I'm quite spiritual and grew up in a religious household where we would do Hindu pujas in the house. I have a 13-year-old dog called Hanuman and I speak broken Telugu at home. Mindy Kaling is my role model — I watch her show The Mindy Project all the time, as well as Modern Family, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. I watch way too much TV."

On racism

"It was an unfortunate situation but I wasn't surprised. When I won Miss New York I had already experienced this so I knew to expect this on a larger scale if I went on to win Miss America. For one negative tweet I get thousands of supportive messages not only from Indian Americans but from people from around the world. I know that the hateful comments just stem from ignorance. Some students from Duke University created a video and hashtag #standwithnina for me, to raise cultural awareness. That was so incredible."